Blogs and Commentary

NCAA Division III Weekly Notebook

It's something that we've known from the beginning: entering
this season, Salisbury was going to undergo a huge rebuilding
process after the graduation of last year's prolific class. Sure,
there was still plenty of talent on the roster — there always
is — but the 1-2 start to the season wasn't a huge
surprise.

More alarming was just how much time that Jim Berkman and his
staff had to take just to reestablish the fundamental tenets of
their program.

"Let's put it this way, there was so much new blood that you
couldn't take anything for granted," said Berkman. "To the point
where after the second game, my coaches were furious at how we
warmed up against Lynchburg. They said, 'Coach, we have to practice
warming up. We have so many guys who don't know what a Sea Gull
does before a game, how we go on the field and how we do the
drills.' Every little thing you'd take for granted that they'd
know, we've had to coach this year."

The early season losses were eye-openers for the Gulls, but they
also showed everyone involved that they weren't too far off.
Salisbury had an opportunity to take a one-goal lead late in the
game against the Hornets and missed a golden chance to win the
W&L game in the first overtime.

"Even though we weren't playing that well back then, we were
still in a position to win those games," Berkman said. "We
definitely are getting better on offense. We're definitely finding
our guys at attack, and we didn't know who they were at that point.
The maturation of the first midfield line with Eric Kluge and Tyler
Smith finally coming back from injury and Greg Korvin was also
important. That's a pretty formidable line that produces
opportunities for everybody out there because they force teams to
slide."

It would make sense that the team would be hurt both talent-wise
and psychologically when All-American middie Ryan Clarke was lost
for the season. A Tewaaraton watch list member and an MLL draftee,
Clarke was the primary initiator of the Gulls' offense. Berkman
prefers to look at what was gained rather than lost.

"After Ryan went out, the credit goes to those guys who stepped
up," he said. "We lost those two games with Ryan. Then we won nine
games in a row, and 11 of the last 12. I'd like to give the credit
to the kids who stepped up. They've developed, improved and given
us a chance to win now."

A constant for Salisbury, and one of the key reasons the Gulls
have been able to endure some of the offensive growing pains, has
been the play of the defense. Berkman pinpoints the play of
freshman defensive middie Preston Dabbs and junior goalie Alex
Taylor as being critical to the backline in addition to moving
junior Zeke Smith from close defense to long-stick midfield.
Salisbury is allowing just 5.12 goals per game, and only four in
conference play.

"We've always embraced the role of being a great defense,"
Berkman said. "We've gotten a lot of credit over the years for
being great on offense, but if you track back to any of those
teams, they were very good on defense and didn't allow too many
goals. They allowed the offense to score because they could get the
ball on the ground and get it up the field. This team is no
different."

Berkman and his staff are no longer teaching the little things.
The team is now proficient in its warm-up drills. The Gulls have
now moved on to postseason mode, with the top seed in CAC playoffs
locked up after Saturday's rout of St. Mary's. This Salisbury
edition still isn't close to last year's juggernaut, but every day
is step closer to being a threat when tourney time rolls
around.

"The exciting thing is every day you go out there, you see the
improvement," Berkman said. "Our second midfield line is really
coming along. Chris Biank has given us a real one-two punch on
faceoffs with Tyler Granelli. There's been a lot of improvement and
we're excited about where we're at."

- After a fruitless trip to Rochester in which it lost to both
St. John Fisher and RIT, Endicott was sitting at 3-3 and on the
cusp of a rough season considering what was left on the schedule.
Since that point, however, the Gulls have rattled off seven
straight victories, including wins over Amherst, Springfield and
former No. 4 Tufts last Tuesday. They're now 10-3 with key games
against Bowdoin next Saturday and then the season finale against
Commonwealth Coast rival Western New England. So is Endicott now in
the discussion for an at-large bid if they don't get the CCC
auto-bid?

In the discussion, for sure, but they'll have to go at least 3-1
in the final four games of the season (meaning a win over either
Bowdoin or WNE) and then advance to the CCC finals. That would
leave them at 14-5 with a resume that will keep them around until
the final gun. With all of that said, the South is looking like it
will be the power region in the Pool C raffle, so the Gulls would
be wise to win their league.

- I put together a story on Endicott's outstanding FOGO
Sam Ozycz, which was posted last
Friday...Mt. St. Vincent registered its first-ever win
over Maritime (N.Y.) in Thursday's 9-8 victory...Transylvania
capped off its season with a win over Hanover, finishing with a
respectable 9-5 record...Birmingham-Southern has to win the SAA
tournament just to stay eligible for Pool B...it has no NCAA
prospects (especially playing in Cabrini's conference), but
Centenary upped its record to 10-1...Kean is the same boat (with
Montclair ruling the Skyline), but the Cougars are
12-1...Immaculata's Bhelly Bagbonon dished out his 100th assist
over the weekend...Goucher's Connor Mishaw made his 50th career
start in goal in the Gophers 11-10 overtime victory over Catholic.
Mishaw made 12 saves...Centre (9-2) is an intriguing team as the
SAA gets set to start its tournament.

- Sophomore John Thompson set Christopher Newport's single
season points mark (47) in the Captains win over St.
Vincent...Clark (Mass.) matched the school record for wins (7) with
a 13-6 victory over Regis (Mass.)...Stevenson is the prohibitive
favorite to win the MAC Commonwealth, but they will get a stern
test from Widener on Saturday. The Pride has won six straight and
is playing outstanding defense. Keep an eye on it...the season
began with a lot of promise, but Whittier had its postseason hopes
dashed with a 12-3 loss to Otterbein. The Poets will be unable to
get to the .500 mark to keep them eligible.

- Washington & Lee, not exactly a team known for its
offensive output, has hung 27 goals on back-to-back conference
opponents (Bridgewater, Randolph)...Grant Ferguson had five goals
and three assist to lead Eastern past King's, 15-6, in a clash atop
the MAC Freedom...Roanoke pushed its winning streak to six, but it
wasn't easy. The Maroons needed a furious rally to beat
Hampden-Sydney, 12-11...the Denison-Ohio Wesleyan clash on
Wednesday won't disappoint. Top seed in the NCAC is on the
line...York not only established the season record for wins (12) in
the win over Mary Washington, but sophomore Tyler Hutson became the
first Spartan to eclipse the 100-goal mark.